In June, Regis hosted the Network Summer Service Project, Making in Houston Workshop. Four Regis Middle School students, joined by one middle school student from Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles and one middle school student from Stuart Hall in San Francisco, guided students from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School through a workshop exploring the solar system. The students learned block coding to program Sphero robots to model the orbits of the planets.

Throughout the project, the students blogged about their experience during the Making in Houston Workshop. Here are a few excerpts from the week:

Day 1: Alex O.

Today when we arrived we put or belongings in the room and went downstairs to use the Spheros. While we were driving them, two kids named Alex and Aiden from St. Louis and San Francisco came to help us run our program. After we met, we talked. We drove them around and then we went upstairs to start a challenge. The challenge was who had the best battle bot, so we designed and built out battle bots. Then we put them in the arena and fought them. It was very fun and entertaining to see what everyone built and to fight them against each other. 

​Today we learned what our mission is and what we will teach the kids tomorrow. I am exited for tomorrow because we teach our first lesson to the kids from Our Lady of Guadalupe. They will learn a lot about Spheros and our solar system.

Day 2: Reflections

We asked our Sacred Heart students, "what did you learn form the OLG students?" and these are their responses:

Aidan - When trying new things always try to understand and deepen what you are learning. Have fun. Absorb as much as you can. When finding an opportunity like this always take it and learn. Persevere in the face of action.

Santiago - I learned that they are smart and very easy to learn with. They are also fun to talk to and easy to talk to.

Drake - They were happy visiting us. They also were glad to play with the Spheros.

Alex W. - I learned that it can be fun but hard to teach kids. They taught me that when they want to learn something they will run with it and try to better themselves. They liked to figure and learn things on their own.

Alex O. - I learned a lot about the OLG Students.   They were very excited to learn and they learned very quickly too. Once they programmed the square they were programming the whole basketball court.

Walker - I learned that some kids don't have the same kind of money as others and that we can help kids learn things that they can't because they don't have enough money to have these things. I learned that you can make friends even without having a party and can just sit down and talk and teach them.

Day 3: Santiago

Today we taught the third grade how to program an octagon and then we helped them program a maze. I taught a new kid who did not know anything about how to use the sphero’s. I taught everything from the start but just a little faster and soon he caught up to everyone else. We did the octagon easily and we almost finished the maze.

I taught my kid all the angles and all about the blocks to program. I also told him about how to drive and the controls. I think the third graders learned a lot about angles and block coding. I felt good about working with them because I can tell that they really like spheros and they want to learn more about it.

​I am exited to work with them tomorrow because we get to teach them a lot about the solar system and have a lot more fun.

Day 4: Reflections

7 Word Stories

• Drake: Amazing, meaningful, important, giving, thankful, educational, and hardworking
• Santiago: Hardworking, fun, connecting, friendship, creative, helpful, tiring
• Aidan: Connections knowledge tech friendships learning friends fun
• Alex W: A breathtaking experience that was eye-opening
• Alex O: Amazing, happy, smart, breathtaking, impressive, learning, friendship
• Walker: Helping, great, fun, impressed, adventures, tired, hardworking